Former British No 1 Elena Baltacha dies, aged 30

Baltacha had suffered from a chronic liver disease since the age of 19

The news that everyone in tennis was dreading arrived late on Sunday night, when Elena Baltacha – a stalwart of the sport, and one of the most genuine people you could wish to meet – was taken away at the tragically early age of 30.

Baltacha had suffered from a chronic liver disease since the age of 19, yet had still managed her physical condition well enough to maintain a lengthy career in professional tennis. She retired from the women’s tour in November last year, having spent several years as Britain’s No 1.

Then, in March, came the most bitter of blows. Baltacha went into hospital for checks and discovered that her liver had now turned cancerous. There are few more virulent forms of cancer, and the end came with terrible speed.

“We are heartbroken beyond words at the loss of our beautiful, talented and determined Bally,” said Baltacha’s husband and former coach Nino Severino, who had married her just six months ago. “She was an amazing person and she touched so many people with her inspirational spirit, her warmth and her kindness.”

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Among those people were the 70 students at the Elena Baltacha Academy in Ipswich, which she and her husband had run with their usual commitment since she stepped back from the tour.

Commitment, indeed, was the quality that you most associated with Baltacha, who did not perhaps possess the gifts of a player like Laura Robson – the current British No 1 – but who poured every ounce of effort into her career on a daily basis.

One interview from a couple of seasons ago sticks in the mind. Chatting to a group of reporters in her usual unaffected way, she explained how she had kept playing through many months of crippling back pain.

“Sometimes I used to wake up and think ‘Oh my gosh, I cannot move!’ ” she explained. “But I wouldn’t be the person I am now if I hadn’t gone through that.”

That was Bally, finding positives in every challenge. And never backing down. Her performances on the court were always full of defiance and aggressive body language, which could disconcert even the most experienced players.

“Maria didn’t know I spoke Russian,” she once recalled, of a match against the tour’s golden girl Maria Sharapova. “When I started shouting ‘Come on!’ and talking in Russian, she didn’t like it, and I knew she didn’t like it.”

Baltacha’s Russian connection was supplied by her father, Sergei Baltacha, who made 49 appearances for the Soviet Union football team before becoming the first man from his country to represent an England club.

He moved to Ipswich Town in 1988, and then played for St Johnstone and Inverness Caledonian north of the border. At that point, Elena became part of Judy Murray’s successful coterie of Scottish teenage prospects, which included not only her own sons but the likes of Colin Fleming and Jamie Baker.

Baltacha’s greatest moment on the court, as an individual, probably came at the beginning of her career. In 2002, still only 18, she knocked the seeded South African Amanda Coetzer out of Wimbledon.

Her stays at grand slams thereafter were fleeting, never extending beyond the third round, but she climbed to a highly credible peak of No 49 in the world in 2010.

She and her long-term rival Anne Keothavong spurred each other on, but they also combined in the British Fed Cup team, for whom Baltacha had a fine record: 33 career wins compared to only 16 losses.

Last month, the Lawn Tennis Association announced that they would be staging a fundraising “Rally for Bally” along the lines of Ross Hutchins’s successful “Rally Against Cancer” at Queen’s Club last year.

Three mixed-doubles matches will be played on Sunday, June 15, one at Queen’s, one at Eastbourne and one in Birmingham, with the likes of Martina Navratilova, Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski all booked to participate.